Cine en el sofá: Yesterday - Darrell Roodt

Yesterday es una joven mujer, casada y con una hija, que vive en Rooihoek, una remota aldea en el territorio zulú en Sudáfrica. Su marido trabaja en una mina de oro en Johannesburgo y la visita una vez cada dos meses. Yesterday, de espíritu alegre y muy trabajadora, se dedica a cultivar la tierra y cuida de su hijita que pronto empezará la escuela, a la que ella nunca tuvo oportunidad de ir. Su vida se convertirá en una odisea cuando descubra, tras repetidas y frustadas visitas a dos horas de pie, al pueblo más cercano donde hay una clínica, que ella es HIV positivo.

Young mother Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) lives in Rooihoek, a remote village with meagre resources, with her daughter Beauty (Lihle Mvelase), while her husband (Kenneth Khambula) is away working in Johannesburg's mines. Falling ill, she struggles to see a doctor, never guaranteed a consultation after walking the long distance to the medical centre, which is only open one day a week and always oversubscribed. When she finally gets an appointment, she is diagnosed as HIV positive. Devastated, she goes to visit her husband who refuses to accept the situation, and Yesterday is left to fend for herself, desperately hoping she will survive long enough to see Beauty go to school. Yesterday claims she was named so by her father because 'things were better yesterday'. A bold statement given South Africa's painful history, but given how the AIDS epidemic has affected the region, it is sadly clear to see how some can come to that conclusion. Set against the stunning, harsh landscapes of South Afica's Zululand, director Darrell Roodt (Sarafina!, Cry the Beloved Country) insists his film is not a message movie, but a timely depiction of how devastating the disease is for the individual.